IPIA 2026: Meet the speakers

Florence is a lesbian and Disabled musician, theatre maker, and creative whose work spans across music, theatre, and community arts. She graduated from Falmouth University with a First-Class Honours degree in Popular Music, followed by a master’s degree in the same discipline, and has since built a multidisciplinary practice that celebrates queer identity, 
inclusivity, and storytelling through music and performance. 

@cowboypanini

A consultant and project manager in the classical musical and ballet industry, Elise has over 15 years of experience in music management, spanning a 20-year career in the arts, music and entertainment businesses. 

Elise combines her interests in culture and the arts with a desire to assist her immediate and wider community. As well as spearheading her own voluntary initiatives, Elise is on the Development Committee for Clean Break, is a trustee for Hammersmith & Fulham Giving, a trustee for Carnival Village Trust, a Board Director of Leeds Conservatoire, a Non-Exec Director of Come Play with Me and is the founder and Chair of Mama Haven, a charity she created to address socio economic barriers amongst women. 

Rachna Joshi is a teacher and writer. She works with children and their families aged from birth to five. Rachna is an endorsed Froebelian Travelling Tutor, a member of the Froebel Trust Education and Research committee and a trustee of Second Hand Dance, a disabled-led children’s dance company. Her passion for early childhood education led her to complete her MA in Early Childhood Studies at Roehampton University in 2020. Her interest in this field continues to develop within these specific areas: children’s development of identity, the way in which children interact with others through movement and dance, and anti-racist practice and social justice within educational contexts.  

CLIMAXED is a music management and promotion company working across electronic music culture. We support artist development from the grassroots scene to international stages — prioritising world-building, access, and artists challenging convention.
Run by Bristol-based DJ, curator, and writer Lilian Buckthought, CLIMAXED blurs the line between artistic practice and cultural infrastructure.

An early immersion into the Bristol sound and grassroots scene, Lilian first entered the industry through Youth Music’s incubator programmes, putting on events and developing grassroots art. This work led to a Youth Music Rising Star (industry) nomination and roles within record labels, artist management and event support internationally.

Lilian’s work across music campaigns, live music and creative producing has been supported by The Arts Council, Rough Trade, NOORD, & Drake Music, allowing further exploration of her own artistic output and role as an industry practitioner.

The DOLLSTEP club series acts as an experimental space for Lilian to DJ, test out early productions, and curate queer nightlife experiences. Promoting genre fluidity and inclusive practice, Lilian’s perspective is channelled through her editorial writing and experimental DJ sets.

Vinícius Motta is a blind Brazilian-British composer, arranger, performer, concert-videographer, educator and gamer based in Birmingham. He is a genre-fluid composer specialising in concert hall music. He is the founder and principal arranger of the Birmingham Game Music Ensemble, a 30-piece orchestra dedicated to game music arrangements, fostering new audiences while integrating experimental and contemporary classical music techniques in the arranging processes to enhance audience immersion during high-profile concert performances. He was a Drake Music Future Leader and now is a Future Leader Mentor and active member of the Drake Music Youth Forum. 

Georgina Spray is a disabled French Horn player and music facilitator from rural Lincolnshire. She was a member of the first cohort of Drake Music’s Future Leaders programme and is now working as a mentor with the current cohort. Georgie is also a member of Drake Music’s newly founded Youth Forum.  

Georgie is currently a first-year PhD student at Birmingham City University where her research focuses on analysing the barriers that disabled children face on their musical pathways. A member of the National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO) between 2018 and 2025, she now works as assistant music leader for its Birmingham NOYO Ensemble. The National Open Youth Orchestra was launched in 2018 as the world’s first disabled-led national youth ensemble. 

Amélie is a classical flautist with a keen interest in folk, jazz, and new experimental music. She enjoys the process of collaborating to create, perform, and record new music, and has been commissioned to play a diverse range of repertoire for contemporary composers. Amélie has performed with a variety of orchestras and ensembles, including Dartington Sinfonietta, Divertimento Ensemble, Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Wales, National Youth Folk Ensemble, and Ignite Symphony Orchestra. Having completed her undergraduate studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Amélie is now undertaking a master’s degree in music performance at the Royal Academy of Music.  

Music has always been at the heart of Godfirst’s life, shaping not only his creativity but also the way he has overcome challenges. Living with a disability, Godfirst has faced obstacles that could have held him back, but music has been a powerful tool that has helped him to grow, express himself, and find strength. Music has given him the confidence to push beyond limits and to connect with others in a meaningful way. Throughout his journey, he has explored music through performance, drumming in both school and church, and by developing his own creative ideas. Each step has deepened his passion and confirmed that music is not just something he does – it is a part of who he is.  

Geo is a London-based producer, composer, and vocalist who continuously strives to create a distinctive soundscape that reflects their experience as a deaf musician who hears through a synthetic mechanism: hearing aids. As heard on their self-produced EP titled ‘I’ll Hand You A Hand’, Geo’s sound design, ethereal vocals, and poetic language create experimental, avant-garde immersive spatial sonic spaces that take listeners on emotive journeys. 

Yasmine Dankwah is a spoken word poet and playwright born and based in South-West London, passionate about sharing stories centring joy, lyricism, and nostalgia from a Black and working-class lens. She has performed at the Roundhouse and the Royal Court Theatre and an extract of her audio play ‘I used to know H.I.M’ was featured on BBC Radio London to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop. Yasmine now works with Sound Connections as an associate consultant for their young people’s programmes. 

Elizabeth J. Birch is an undefined glitch, forging beeps and boops into a construction of sound. An award-winning musician, she distorts the boundaries with a combination of synthesisers, haunting vocals, and repurposed everyday objects to challenge what music is, how it’s constructed, who the builders of music are, and who gets to be in the room when it happens. Her output is equal parts mechanical precision and unpolished human error, evidencing that even glitches can have purpose. 

Described as ‘boldly imaginative’ [the Times], ‘a talent to watch’ [New York Times] and ‘one of the most interesting voices of his generation‘ [Limelight], Gavin Higgins is one of Britains most exciting and gifted compositional talents. Winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Sky Arts Award, Critics Circle Award and two Ivor Novello Awards, the music of Gavin Higgins is perofrmed by the worlds leading ensembles, orchestras and solloists.

SILVASTONE is a prominent UK based artist and songwriter with extensive and varied experience in the music industry. Born in London to parents from Ghana and Sierra Leone, SILVASTONE combines his African heritage with European influences to create a unique afrofusion sound.

SILVASTONE is also a talented, self-taught producer who runs his own professional recording studio, White Hut Studios in his home town, Croydon. There, he has produced the works of Chaka Demus & Pliers, Mr Vegas, Mark Morrison, Rita Ora and Emmanual Jal to name a few. His first passion has taken him over the world making and composing music for artists across different genres from afrobeats and reggae to indie and soft pop. He produced the lead theme music for 2017 US No1 Box Office movie (Tyler Perry’s “Boo 2 – A Madea Halloween “) and the recent Netflix Original series, “The Chilling Adventures Of SABRINA” and recently returned from Nashville USA where he was writing and composing on some exciting movie and music projects.